It took 90 games. It took untold adjustments and conversations -- the specifics of which we might not ever know -- and maybe a near-sleepless night or two, too.

But Adrian Gonzalez has taken an Adrian Gonzalez swing -- an uppercut swing at a fastball up and out over the plate that launched a baseball into the seats behind left-center field. Gonzalez has taken the type of swing the Red Sox envisioned him taking so often when they freed him from Petco Park in San Diego two years ago, the type of swing they so desperately need him to take if they're going to stay in contention in the second half.

"I'm just trying to hit singles," he said after the game.

All season long, it's true, Gonzalez has swung the bat like he's trying to hit singles -- and he's succeeded. He was slugging .400 at the end of April. He was slugging .416 at the end of May. He was slugging .410 at the end of June.

During an 18-game hitting streak at the end of June and the beginning of July, 23 of his 29 hits were singles. Just one was a home run.

Entering play Monday night at Fenway Park, Gonzalez had fewer home runs than the likes of Casey Kotchman, David Murphy and Michael Saunders. The same number of home runs as Yuniesky Betancourt and Alberto Callaspo.

Gonzalez had better numbers elsewhere than most of those hitters, naturally. He was hitting .286 with a .331 on-base percentage -- well off his career pace but ahead of Betancourt, Callaspo and Saunders, at least. His 27 doubles ranked him in a tie for third in the American League, behind only Shin-Soo Choo and Alex Gordon.

But the doubles Gonzalez hit seemed to be misplaced singles -- Pedro Ciriaco doubles, in other words, rather than the David Ortiz doubles in which a fence just happens to get in the way of what by all rights should have been a home run.

Gonzalez really was just trying to hit singles.

"I'm not really worried about home runs or any of that stuff," he said. "I'm just trying to have good at-bats."

The Red Sox aren't paying Gonzalez almost as much as they once paid Manny Ramirez just to hit singles, though. They saw the deep drives he hit with the Padres at Petco Park and overlaid the dimensions of Fenway Park and started salivating. They traded three top prospects for him, including Cubs impact rookie Anthony Rizzo. They didn't expect him just to hit singles.

Gonzalez hit a home run on Monday night, a game-changing three-run home run -- and he looked every bit like that's what he was trying to do.

White Sox reliever Leyson Septimo hasn't done much of note in his career since the Arizona Diamondbacks signed him out of the Dominican Republic. He had a 6.75 ERA in 42 relief appearances in Double-A and Triple-A in 2010. He had a 6.37 ERA in 21 Double-A relief appearances in 2011 when the Diamondbacks put him on waivers, allowing the White Sox to scoop him up. He had a 4.10 ERA in 22 Double-A relief appearances after that.

Septimo hasn't given up that many home runs, however. He's allowed just 13 home runs in almost 230 minor-league innings. He allowed just two home runs in the entire 2011 season, a span of 56 innings. He allowed just one home run in 30 1/3 innings at Triple-A this season. In his first five appearances in the major leagues with the White Sox, naturally, he'd pitched 4 2/3 innings and had not allowed a home run.

Septimo migh be a rookie, then, but he's not the type of pitcher against whom one should expect Gonzalez to be hitting home runs -- especially a Gonzalez who's just trying to hit singles.

But Septimo left a fastball up and over the plate in the eighth inning on Monday night, the type of fastball Gonzalez once ate for breakfast and even served to his guests. He slugged over. 900 on pitches up and away in 2009 and 2010, and he still slugged over .500 on pitches in that area in an up-and-down first season with the Red Sox in 2011 -- but he wasn't even close in 2012.

Gonzalez put a smooth swing on the elevated fastball from Septimo. He made contact.